RUI NAIWEI RETAINS FEMALE MYEONGIN TITLE, AGAIN: Rui Naiwei 9P http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=85 defeated Cho Hyeyeon 8P http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=104 by resignation in the third and final round of the 11th Female Myeongin (Meijin) http://senseis.xmp.net/?WomensMyeongin on February 8. Rui and Cho Hyeyeon have faced each other for the Female Myeongin title three years in a row now, and Rui has come out ahead each time. She has held this title for six straight years and won 9 out of the 11 Myeongin title matches.- Go News, GoGameWorld, Sensei’s Library, JustPlayGo

CHO U 3-0 IN KISEI: Cho U http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=19 9P defeated Yamashita Keigo http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=45 by a whopping 8.5 points in the third round of the 34th Kisei http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/pg_titlelist_detail.php?title=Kisei title match on February 3-4. Cho U leads the series 3-0. This is the first time Cho has played in the Kisei title match and the Kisei is the only one of the top seven Japanese titles he has never held. Yamashita has held this title five of the last seven years, including the last four in a row. The fourth round in the best-of-seven match will be played on February 18-19.- Go News, GoGameWorld, Sensei’s Library, JustPlayGo

KOREA TAKES WOMEN’S TEAM MATCH CUP: Korea’s Park Jieun 9P http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=86 swept the 3rd stage of the Jeongganjang Cup http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/pg_titlelist_detail.php?title=Jeongganjang%20Cup%20Women%20Go%20Contest, winning all four rounds and giving Korea their win on February 4. Park Jieun defeated China’s Li He 2P by resignation in the final round. Korea has now won five of the eight Jeongganjang Cup titles. The Jeongganjang Cup http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/pg_titlelist_detail.php?title=Jeongganjang%20Cup%20Women%20Go%20Contest is a win-and-continue tournament between five member women teams from China, Japan, and Korea. Last year the Chinese won for the third time, and it looked like they would repeat this year when the third stage started with one Japanese representative, one Korean, and three Chinese. However, the Korean rep was Park Jieun http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=86 9P and she won four games in a row to give Korea its fifth win of this Cup. The Japanese won one game this year (Mukai Chiaki http://senseis.xmp.net/?MukaiChiaki 3P beat Kim Hyeoimin http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=405 5P of Korea), which was better than last year and allowed them to at least appear in the third round.- Go News, GoGameWorld, Sensei’s Library, JustPlayGo

IYAMA YUTA HOLDS LEAD IN HONINBO LEAGUE: Iyama Yuta http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=379 9P, current Meijin, holds the lead in the Honinbo League with a 4-0 record. The challenger for the Japanese Honinbo title is determined by an eight-player round robin league, which is about half over at this point. Everyone else has lost at least one game. In second place are Takao Shinji http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=214 9P and Yamashita Keigo http://www.gogameworld.com/gophp/playerinfo.php?id=45 9P, both at 3-1. Iyama’s next game is against Yamashita on February 11th.- Go News, GoGameWorld, Sensei’s Library, JustPlayGo

YOUNGEST-EVER PRO IS FEMALE: The youngest ever pro 1-dan is about to emerge in Japan and she is female. On April 1, Fujisawa Rina will be inducted at the age of 11 years 6 months, three months younger than Cho Chikun when he became 1-dan, and far ahead of Xie Yimin who was the previous youngest female 1-dan at 14 years 4 months. Rina is the daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari 8-dan, and thus the granddaughter of Fujisawa Hideyuki. She says her style is quite different from grandad’s, she likes territory and he liked thickness. Her teacher was Hong Mal-keun Saem, a Korean long time resident in Japan who himself qualified as a pro just last year. Rina qualified in the women’s section of the Nihon Ki-in’s qualification system, which is not quite as tough as the open section, but women in the Nihon Ki-in have been posting some good results lately; Mukai Chiaki beat Kudo Norio 9-dan in the Oza a fortnight ago.- John Fairbairn, on godiscussions.com